Letter: Muscely men

Sir: Charles Loving asks if Frank Bruno and Mike Tyson are technically obese because their BMIs (body mass indexes) are over 30 (Letters, 19 March). Muscle is denser than fat so it is not surprising that two of the most muscled men in the world have high BMIs.

As few of us have the physique of a heavyweight boxer, BMI is a very useful way of identifying those of us who could do with losing some weight. One could rubbish BMI on the basis of calculations carried out on two men with obviously high levels of physical fitness, and ignore a high personal BMI when one is a plump, middle-aged man with a sedentary lifestyle. Every smoker knows of someone who smoked 40 a day and lived to 100. But who are you trying to kid?

Andrew Hutchinson

Colchester, Essex